


Lovesick

by ideas7



Category: Daft Punk
Genre: Human!Guy-Man, Human!Thomas, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-15
Updated: 2014-12-29
Packaged: 2018-01-19 11:59:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 20,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1468765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ideas7/pseuds/ideas7
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>lovesick<br/>adjective<br/>1.<br/>in love, or missing the person one loves, so much that one is unable to act normally.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Boxes

**Author's Note:**

> Umm here goes nothing! I started writing this at 3 am with no plan so bear with me:)

I hate romantic comedies. They really are the most painful things to sit through, 2 hours of senseless rubbish accompanied by a lack of plot and more often than not bad acting was not really my idea of a good time. It didn’t really help that I hated love. I know that sounds crazy, a juxtaposition at its finest, but I don’t mean I hate love… As in ‘lovey love’… Commercial love? Am I making sense? I know what I mean. God I must stop talking to myself. Anyway… Despite my hatred, I find myself sat in a half full cinema screen on a Friday night watching this pathetic excuse of a film unravel before my eyes. I don’t even know the name of the film, if that helps give you an idea of how much I care about it.

I’m only here because Thomas insisted. He’s part of some film club they have here, at our local cinema, where they play old films every Wednesday and Friday evening and morons like Thomas pay a monthly fee to view them for free (luckily for me, his subscription includes free entry for one guest.)

I hadn’t known Thomas for long, only a few months, but he’s the only person I know here in Paris. I moved from a small town just at the start of the year, and Thomas is the only person who has actually given me the time of day, so I don’t mind being dragged along to watch his stupid rom-coms. I don’t mean that I feel like I owe him, like friendship is something material, but I personally find people that I can actually stand hard to come by and I’ve always had a soft spot for the boy, ever since I met him.

Ah, the day I met Thomas. I still remember it like it was a few months ago. It was one of my first times venturing into the streets of Paris, I had already been living in my apartment for about 2 weeks but had only just conjured up the nerves (and motivation) to actually leave my bed and do something productive, if not interesting. I was sat in a small cafe. It was fairly busy, and early evening. I was simply minding my own business, enjoying a coffee and surveying my surroundings. In other words, I was people watching, a hobby of mine. Glancing outside the window into the street, I noticed a man, who looked about my age, walking by. The man was strikingly tall, clearly over 6ft and had a slim build. He had a messy mop of brown curls for hair and he was dressed rather scruffily, with worn looking jeans which had ripped knees and a plain black jumper which appeared to be too short at the sleeves. He had his arms full with several cardboard boxes and had carrier bags hanging on his arms. He was clearly struggling with the weight of the items when his luck took a turn for the worst. He put one foot off the pavement onto the road and shocked by the sudden and unexpected drop, he lost his balance and tripped, dropping the context of his arms. In panic he looked around, checking for cars, at which point I had jumped to my feet and was grabbing my belongings and then heading to the exit of the cafe, to help the man. By the time I got to him he had already put all the stray items back into the boxes and had started to arrange the boxes so he could pick them up again.

"Hey you alright there?-"I called to the man as I bent down to help him "-here I’ll help…" I picked up the carrier bags he had dropped and stood up, at which point he had also stood up, holding his boxes.

"Thank you so much" the man half panted, smiling gratefully. I considered trying to load his bags back onto his arms, but then I remembered how much he was struggling before.

"Umm… This stuff is heavy, where are you heading? Maybe I could carry it for you? I don’t mind." I offered him, and upon hearing this he looked genuinely surprised, and relieved.

"R-really? Wow um thanks…only if you’re sure?"

"It’s no sweat" I replied, to which he nodded to the left of us.

"Just down there…my apartment…I’m just moving some stuff… From my parents’ house…" he said, still partly panting and clearly flustered and embarrassed about his trip.

I began walking in the direction he had nodded in, and he followed. I stopped after a few feet, realising he was following my lead.

"This probably won’t work with you following me you know" I said as I turned to face him.

"Oh… Yes of course…" he muttered as he sped until he was beside me, at which point I began walking again. I chuckled lightly, and as I turned to face him again he was blushing, but still smiling as he looked at the floor.

We had been walking along the path for a good two minutes before I realised that we were walking in silence. I had been so engrossed in the surroundings that when I finally zoned back into the situation, the awkwardness of the silence hit me like a train.

"Uhh…-" I was panic talking now, wildly clambering for any scrap of small talk my brain could produce. Unfortunately, my brain seemed to be on lunch break, and before I knew it, it had come out.

"-you’re very tall." The man turned to me quickly, frowning for a second. Then he burst out laughing. I put my head down in embarrassment, at which point some of my hair fell from behind my ear and covered my face, hopefully hiding my burning cheeks. I was never a smooth talker, in fact I was never much of a talker full stop, but this had to be the most ridiculous thing ever to leave my mouth. I didn’t even know his name, and now I sounded like a toddler who had just pointed out the faint moustache sitting on his auntie’s upper lip, much to the embarrassment of his mother. Not that being tall has much comparison, but I felt the blatant unnecessity of the comment strikingly similar.

"Well-" he began, finally stopping his laughter. I looked up to face him, my cheeks still warm with embarrassment "-thanks for noticing I guess?" he smiled goofily, which made me smile back. I felt a bit better about my word vomit, as he had just laughed it off and taken it as a compliment, and so didn’t feel the need to explain that I hadn’t meant to say it.

"I didn’t catch your name by the way…" he continued.

"Guy-Man, what’s yours?"

"Thomas."

He nodded at me and I smiled back, giving talking a break for a bit just to be sure.

After another minute or so of walking, we reached an apartment block. I followed Thomas up to the main door, at which point he placed the boxes he was carrying on the floor and reached into the back pocket of his jeans, producing a swipe card. He swiped it on the key pad box and the door beeped. Picking the boxes up again, he pushed the door with his shoulder and walked through. I followed him in, and up two flights of stairs until we reached his door, he opened it with his key and walked in. I hovered for a minute, wondering if I should follow him in or politely wait for him to return and collect his bags.

"Guy-Man?" I heard him call from inside the apartment, and translated that into him wondering why I hadn’t followed him inside. So I stepped inside gingerly and wiped my shoes on his doormat, before walking towards him. He was standing in the living room, placing the boxes down onto some more boxes. There were boxes everywhere.

"Just moved in then?" I questioned him, placing the carrier bags on the floor and looking around.

"Yeah-" Thomas replied "-I moved in yesterday, just left my parents’ house. That’s where these boxes I dropped were from, I’d just forgotten a few bits."

"Cool…" I said slowly. I was just buying time now. For a recluse I was sure enjoying this social interaction. To be fair, I had just spent several weeks in my room speaking to no one but my parents over the phone.

"So are you like a student or what?" I questioned him, brushing my hair out of my eyes with one hand.

"No, I’ve finished school, I’m not really doing anything, I just work in a supermarket down the road for now."

I took another look around his apartment… _middle of Paris… Fairly sized… Flat screen TV in the corner…supermarket job_? Didn’t add up to me, then I realised, trust fund baby. He must be, this place looks damn expensive.

"By the way-" Thomas’s voice startled me from my internal detective work, and I turned my head quickly to look at him "-thanks so much for helping me, it was really nice of you, I appreciate it."

I smiled. “It was no trouble! You’re welcome.”

Then I noticed Thomas fumbling around in his back pocket. He then pulled out several notes and began flicking through them. He took ten Euros and held it out to me, nodding at me to take it.

"Woah there… I haven’t even started talking my clothes off yet!" I joked.

Thomas laughed in response. “No seriously, please it’s the least I can do”

"Hey man, seriously-" I was mocking his stern voice, and by the amused look on his face he knew this, "-it’s no problem. You keep your mon-" then something caught my eye in one of many boxes strewn across the room. I walked over to the box and lifted it out. It was nothing amazing, just a DVD of the film ‘ _Taxi Driver_ ’, but it was enough to get me excited.

"Taxi Driver!" I exclaimed, probably sounding like an over-excited child.

"Yeah! I love it! One of my all-time favourites"

"Same!" I grinned at him, then cleared my throat. Then, in the best American accent I could manage, "You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me?"

Thomas burst out laughing, which made me laugh too. “That was good Guy-Man! Had me scared.”


	2. Caffeine & Alcohol

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote the first draft for this chapter whilst drunk... to say it was a joy to edit would be an understatement

My De Niro impression broke the ice between us, and we went on to discuss other films we liked, as well as our favourite actors, bands and songs. I was in Thomas’s apartment for quite a while once we started talking, as it turns out we had a lot in common, he even offered me a beer (which I gladly accepted.) It got quite late in the evening so I told Thomas I had to leave, he then asked if we could meet up again the next day, to which I agreed. He suggested the cafe I had visited earlier, so we planned a time and I made my way back to my own apartment.

That day, at 1:00pm exactly, I entered the cafe and quickly scanned it, looking for Thomas. I found him standing at the counter ordering. I walked over to him and just before I reached him called his name, his head shot around and he grinned as soon as he saw me.

"Hey Guy-Man! I was just ordering, what do you want?" Thomas beamed, sounding a little excited.

"Uhh… Cappuccino. With a shot of caramel, thanks." I told the barista, who then nodded and turned to make the drinks.

"So…how are you?" Thomas asked, still smiling.

"Yeah I’m good thank you. It’s nice outside." I don’t know why I had commented on the weather, I hated when people do that...

Thomas paid for our drinks and then picked them both up. “Where do you want to sit?” he asked.

I headed towards the table I had been at the previous day, being the sentimental so and so that I am, and plonked myself down on one of the chairs. Thomas sat down opposite me and pushed my cappuccino in front of me.

"Thanks Thomas."

"No problem."

I scanned the room again, not quite sure of what silly thing to comment on next. I couldn’t help but notice as a young woman walked in and stood hovering near the door for a second, looking around nervously. Then someone must have caught her attention as she headed towards a man who was sitting alone near the back of the cafe. He stood to greet her and they shook hands, then he held her chair out for her and she sat down. _First date, probably._ I thought to myself. Then it hit me… _Did it look like me and Thomas were on a date? Were we actually on a date?_ I started to panic at the suddenness of this realisation when I noticed Thomas’s lips were moving.

"Guy-Man? Are you listening to me?" he looked concerned.

I coughed and shook my head, as if to shake out the thought- “Yeah sorry!”

"Oh okay…-" Thomas smiled "-so anyway then she asked me if…"

Thomas was still talking but I wasn’t taking it in- my heart was racing and my palms were sweating. I felt trapped then, I can’t quite explain why, I think it may have been the idea that I was on a date and was completely unaware of the fact it was a date, and to top it off I was straight, and Thomas was quite clearly a male.

The panic became too much, I stood up and clumsily grabbed my jacket.

"Thomas…so sorry…I forgot…got to go…see you later" I managed to blurt out before rushing out of the cafe and speed walking towards my apartment. I searched my jacket pockets desperately for a packet of cigarettes and a lighter, pulled them out and took a cigarette from the box, putting it to my lips. I slowed down to concentrate on lighting it, but as soon as it was lit began walking swiftly again. I took long drags from the cigarette and could feel myself begin to relax a little with each drag that filled my mouth and tickled my throat.

I didn’t stop my fast pace until I had made it into my apartment. I slammed the door shut behind me, kicked my shoes off and began tearing all of my clothes off, throwing them in a trail behind me as I made my way to the bathroom. Turning the shower on as I reached it, I stepped in straight away, ignoring the fact the water was yet to warm up. As the icy cold water rained down on me, hitting my skin like daggers, I took deep breaths in an attempt to compose myself. _Why did I react like that? How completely ridiculous of me… Nothing even happened… I just went for a coffee with someone I had just met-_ a stranger who had happened to trip his way into my life and we just happened to have a lot in common.

I grabbed a bottle of shower gel and squeezed some into my hands. I began rubbing at my body vigorously, trying to distract myself from my thoughts, but it didn’t work. I managed to wash myself off and step out of the shower. I spent longer than usual drying and redressing myself, before making my way onto my balcony, grabbing my cigarettes on the way.

I sat for a long time on the balcony, smoking and thinking. I finally came to the conclusion that I was being completely stupid and ridiculous, running out on Thomas like that. We were just going for a coffee to chat and talk about our shared interests, just like we had at his apartment. I felt embarrassed _. First the random tall comment and now this… Thomas must think I’m a complete nutcase…shit_. What I couldn’t decide on, however, is why I was acting like this. I knew that how we met was quite strange, how we went from complete strangers to sitting together in his apartment with beers discussing music in the space of an hour. That didn’t explain how being around him turned me into a bumbling idiot though…

I couldn’t take sitting around and overthinking any longer. I checked my watch, 19:48pm… Good enough for me. I made a quick outfit change and grabbed some money and a packet of cigarettes. I had made it to the bar by 8pm. Ever since I was 17, 6 years ago, I had made a habit of escaping to bars and clubs whenever I was feeling shit or had a problem, I found sanctuary in being able to drink and dance until I forgot who I was. I hadn’t done it since living in Paris, and was admittedly a bit nervous about my first ‘night out’ in Paris being alone. But, I had figured, this was a better option that a sleepless night of tossing and turning.

The first bar I came across was fairly empty, just a few couples at tables and solitary men at the actual bar, some in business suits looking tired, another looked as if he was waiting for someone else to arrive by the way he kept alternating between checking his watch and checking the door. I took my rightful place at the bar.

"Uhh…screwdriver. Thanks." I said to the bartender and she nodded.

A few drinks later, I was feeling a bit better. Thomas was only crossing my mind every 10 minutes compared to the every 30 seconds I had experienced earlier when sober. I’d made some polite conversation with the bartender, mostly complimenting her strikingly bright pink hair and discussing the tattoos which ran up and down her arms.

As I took my wallet to pay for my fourth drink I realised I was running worryingly low on cash. I decided to make this my last drink before I would make my way back to my apartment. Completely lost in my own thoughts, I shocked myself by speaking for the first time in about half an hour. “God I’m fucking horny.” I blurted out, absentmindedly and accidentally. No one seemed to hear me, apart from the man sitting next to me. He turned slowly and looked directly at me, his face was a picture. I was still shocked at myself and now scared I was about to be punched, so I grabbed my wallet and jacket and made my way out of there as fast as my staggering self could manage. As I reached the street outside, the sudden cool night air hitting my face, I laughed to myself about what had just happened. I spotted the bright, neon sign of a supermarket down the street and began stumbling towards it, with the intent of taking some more cash out, as my subconscious mind was clearly craving some female flesh. _Wow, my subconscious is a pig._

As I entered the supermarket, the sudden brightness of the artificial lighting inside was an unwelcome shock, and I felt disorientated for a second before adjusting my eyes the best I could to the blinding whiteness. The light proved to be a little sobering to my mind, as whilst making my way to the ATM machine, I remembered how Thomas had mentioned he worked in a supermarket. _My luck isn’t that bad…_ I thought to myself as I fumbled with my wallet. _He won’t be in here working right now._ This reasoning didn’t stop me from glancing around at the employees I could see though, but none even resembled Thomas.

As I was putting the notes into my wallet, I heard it.

"Thomas!" I heard a female voice call.

I span around immediately, looking for the source of the voice.

I sighed. A female jogged past towards a man who was carrying several shopping bags.

"Thomas!-" she called again. "Wait for me!"

The man who must have been Thomas turned around and waited for her to catch him up. I didn’t know the man. Not my Thomas… I thought to myself as I headed for the exit. _Oh no_ , I groaned, clutching my head as I walked. ‘ _My Thomas_ ’? _What is wrong with me?_


	3. Painkillers

The next morning I woke with a start, I’d had one of those dreams where you’re falling and it makes your physical body jerk and wakes you up. I remember when I was about ten an older kid at school tried to scare me by telling me that if you don’t wake up before you hit the ground in the dream, you died in real life. It was the headache that suddenly became horribly apparent to me that made me think of this, and as reality became flowing back to me, I started to wish I had hit the ground _. Ugh…_ I rolled over, pulling the bed covers over my face to block out the sunlight seeping through the small gap between my bedroom curtains. I tried to recall the events of last night, as I could only vividly remember up to taking more cash out and not much after that. _I think I was heading towards a strip club…_ I pondered. _Oh yeah, then I couldn’t actually find one…so I went to a club? That sounds about right._ My headache was becoming worse, and it wasn’t helped by the sound of a mobile phone ringing. _Wait a minute… That isn’t my ringtone…_ I bolted upright.

"SHIT." I hissed. "What the fuck…"

The girl in my bed next to me must have heard my cursing as she rolled over and half opened her eyes. “Huh?” she mumbled, clearly still half asleep.

I jumped out of bed, the pain coming from my pounding head suddenly supressed due to the panic which was rising within me. I stood looking at the girl, who had snuggled up to one of my pillows and gone back to sleep. I’d never woken up with someone in my bed this way before, not being able to recall their name or even how they had got there. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what we had done in my bed, though, judging by the mixture of male and female clothing items strewn across my bed and floor.

I figured I shouldn’t wake her up, she wasn’t exactly a threat to me or my belongings and I wouldn’t be able to cope with her if she was grumpy or hung-over. I could barely cope with myself that way. I waddled into the kitchen and reached into the drawer I kept painkillers in. I dry swallowed two before making my way into the shower. I only seemed to be bothered enough to shower when I had just done something I painfully regretted.

I’d just stepped out of the shower when I became aware of the sound of someone cluttering around in my apartment. _Ah, the girl. She must be awake then_. I did my best to towel dry my hair, but it was getting so long that it didn’t do much help. I sighed, and got redressed into last night’s clothes as I didn’t want to risk running to my room naked to get a clean outfit. Finally I brushed my teeth, before gingerly leaving the bathroom and heading towards the kitchen. I stopped at the doorway. The young blonde girl was helping herself to a coffee. She just was pouring the milk into the mug when she looked up and beamed at me. I squinted at her, she was wearing one of my shirts. In my kitchen. In my apartment. Making coffee with my stuff… and I didn’t even know her name.

"Good morning sunshine!" she chirped at me. I winced. _Oh no…_

"Umh…" I responded, unsure of how to politely ask her to get the fuck out of my apartment.

"Can I make you anything to eat, big boy?"

I groaned. That was it, I was too exhausted and hung-over to be dealing with this nicely.

"Please leave my apartment."

"What?"

"You heard. Please leave my fucking apartment."

She looked taken aback by my crudeness. "Wh…well…excuse me? You don’t have to be so rude!" Her attempt at an angry voice was laughable, her voice was so high-pitched.

"You’re trespassing on my property. I think I can be a little bit rude." I said, arms crossed.

"HA!-"

I winced at hearing her squeaky voice so loudly.

"-I’m hardly trespassing! You practically begged me to come here last night!"

I didn’t respond, I couldn’t recall enough about last night to argue against that.

She stormed past me, leaving behind her, I mean _my_ , coffee and heading towards my bedroom. I followed her at a distance. When I reached the door to my room, she was rushing around collecting her clothes.

"Can I have my shirt back, please." I said, leaning against the door frame.

She huffed, and then went to lift the shirt off. She turned to me. “Look away, creep!”

I turned and walked out of the room, waiting just outside. _Fuck this…_

She stormed out of my room, and stopped right in front of me.

"Prick!" she shouted, before slapping me across my left cheek. She turned on her heels and made her way out of my apartment, slamming the door behind her as she left.

"Fuck…" I muttered to myself, cradling cheek. It stung, which just added to the pain of my hangover. I headed towards the kitchen, took two more painkillers and several sleeping pills before heading back to my bed. I flopped on the mattress, and the second my head hit the pillow I completely blacked out.

I woke again the following morning fairly early, well at 11am… that’s early for me at least. I felt a lot better this time. My headache gone, my bed free from strangers, and I could happily say that my cheek didn’t still hurt after being slapped with such force.

I rolled over, deciding to stay in bed for a bit. I was still looking for a job and I didn’t exactly have any other responsibilities to tend to or people to see.

_Oh..._ I suddenly remembered. My heart and stomach dropped simultaneously, which was not a pleasant feeling. _Thomas, of course…how could I forget_. That’s exactly the problem, I really could not forget about him. It would be so easy to just block out the fact he ever existed and move on with my life, he didn’t know where I lived and so he had no way of tracing me. But I couldn’t forget… You don’t just forget about Thomas.

I sat up, legs hanging over the side of the bed. _Right_ , I thought to myself, _there are several things I could do with today…find a job, find Thomas, or sleep_. The only one that felt appealing to me was sleep, but I knew that I just had to see Thomas again. He was so interesting…so…tolerable.

_Shit…_ I murmured to myself. I hadn’t eaten in ages. I dragged myself in the kitchen and began searching for something to gorge on, purposely ignoring the abandoned and stone cold coffee left on the counter from my early encounter. I had nothing fresh as I hadn’t been shopping for over a week. I settled for a pack of chocolate flavoured biscuits and a can of Coca Cola. Along with a packet of cigarettes, I made myself comfortable on the sofa.

I checked the time…11:45am. I decided to leave soon. I was going to the supermarket I had previously been in to look for Thomas. It was long shot, in some ways, but this was the only supermarket ‘down the road’ from Thomas, as he had described. The others were all a good ten minute walk away. This was only two minutes from his apartment.

_This is a bad idea…this is a bad idea…_

My superego hadn’t shut up since I’d left my apartment. I knew this could end being an utterly mortifying situation for me yet again, but I was determined that this time I would act cool.   
  
I stepped into the supermarket, the familiar clinical-whiteness of the whole place made me feel uneasy, again, but I pushed the feeling to the back of my mind. I did a quick survey of the cashiers. No sign of Thomas. _With a little luck he would be stacking shelves or something…_ I just had to hunt him down.

I began walking down the middle of the supermarket, head turning left and right to check each side of the aisle as I passed.

Left…right…left…right…Thomas.

Sure enough, there he was, stacking cans of beans or soup or something in the middle of an aisle.

I cleared my throat as I approached him, about 2 meters away from him. He looked up immediately. At first he looked like a rabbit caught in headlights. Wide-eyed and shocked…but it didn’t take long for his face to soften into a smile.

"Guy-Man! Hello!"

"Uh hey…Thomas… Nice to see you" I said, shakily, shifting my weight from foot to foot and nervously picking at my fingers.

"You too! I never thought I’d see you again?" Thomas replied. It was a statement but he made it sound like a question, like he was indirectly asking why I had run away from him at the cafe. I knew he was thinking it.

"Oh yeah-" I chuckled nervously "-I’m sorry about that, I’d completely forgotten that I had a dentist appointment and I was late…sorry I just panicked, I do that a lot."

Thomas looked a little baffled. I didn’t blame him.

"Oh… Okay" He replied, and then smiled. I wasn’t completely sure if he believed my lie or not, but for now all that mattered to me was he was at least pretending to have believed me.

"When do you finish work?"

"In 6 hours…I think? Yeah. At 6pm."

"Umm do you fancy going for a drink or something?-" _Dammit, that sounds like a date, again._ "-in a club? Uh a pub maybe?" I was letting my subconscious talk for me again, never a good idea.

Thomas didn’t seem to notice my word vomit, and looked pleased at the offer. “Yeah! Sounds good! Cool!” he chirped.

_He really could act like an over-excited schoolgirl when he wanted. But then again, so could I._


	4. Dianne

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not proof read!! sorry forgive meee

I rushed home after planning where to meet Thomas after his shift and buying a few groceries. I couldn't quite explain why I was so excited to see him again that night, but had figured that it must be because I hadn't had an actual friend in so long, and Thomas was looking like a promising candidate. 

After an excruciatingly long wait of sitting around and watching the clock patiently, I decided it was a good time to leave my apartment and head out to meet Thomas. I knew where I was heading as I had found the bar on the way back from the supermarket, with a little help from vague directions courtesy of Thomas. It didn't take me long to get there, despite purposely walking slowly through the bustling streets. Despite being on such a busy street, the bar was almost desolate on the inside. The lack of customers and absence of music being played in the room made it very quite inside, with only the sounds of a low hum of several hushed conversations and the occasional clink of glasses filling the air. This made me feel extremely self-concious as I made my way to a table and settled in a chair. The interior of the place felt a little outdated, with mahogany furniture and a dark orange carpet. It was also very dimly lit, and the whole place had a hint of a Gothic feel to it. There was a small stage situated in one corner of the room, opposite the bar, with a stool and a microphone placed in the middle of it. There were a few potted plants randomly scattered around and abstract framed paintings placed equally randomly on the walls. The atmosphere of this bar was extremely offbeat and peculiar, yet the longer I sat observing and absorbing my surroundings, the more I began to appreciate its novelty. 

After about 10 minutes of sitting alone, I saw Thomas enter looking slightly flustered. He began looking around the room, and I put one hand up and waved at him. He immediately spotted me and began to make his way over to the table. I considered standing up to pull out his chair for him, but instantly decided against that.

"Hey!" He panted as he sat down in the chair opposite me.

I smiled at him, "Hey, Thomas."

"Sorry I'm late, I got held up...-" Thomas said, before I noticed him scanning what he could see of my body. "-oh, and I'm sorry I'm still in my work uniform!... You look nice though!"

I blushed at the compliment, now thankful of the dim lighting, but part of me questioned whether he was mocking my outfit or not. I looked down at myself, nervously fiddling with my collar. I was wearing black jeans and a white suit shirt.  _I'm not over dressed...am I?_  I thought to myself.  _No..._ I had made sure I wasn't by neglecting to wear a tie and having my top button undone. I looked casual, for sure.

"Thanks...I was worried I might be overdressed, I wasn't sure." I said, and laughed.

"No not at all! You're dressed p-perfectly...-" Thomas said, stuttering a little. "-I mean- you look nice...you're dressed right... I'm not... I j-just mean..."

This was getting painful. I laughed, "I understand what you mean, thank you."

Thomas smiled, running one hand through his scruffy hair. I could barely make it out in the lighting, but he looked as if he was blushing.

"Ah!-" I suddenly remembered, "-drinks. What's your poison?" 

"Surprise me" Thomas responded.

I stood up, and began to make my way to the bar where the bartender appeared to be idly doodling on a napkin. 

"Uh two Kronenbourgs please" **  
**

"Pints?" The bartender responded, in a thick German accent. 

"Please"

As I returned to the table with our drinks, Thomas had moved his chair around slightly so he was now facing the small stage. I placed the drinks down on the table and sat back into the chair.

"Thanks, Guy-Man. Next round is on me." Thomas said before taking the first sip from his drink.

I looked up to the stage to see why Thomas had moved, and noticed that there was now a spotlight directed at it.

Before I could question Thomas as to what was happening, a young girl walked onto the stage with an acoustic guitar and took a seat on the stool. Everyone in the bar began clapping and a few cheering, making me notice that the place was fairly busier now. 

Thomas turned to me and smiled. "I bet you'll like this... she's really good."

"You're a regular here?" I responded, raising one eyebrow.

Thomas chuckled. "Yeah. Every Thursday night... why are you so surprised? It isn't  _that_ bad in here"

I took another glance around the room, and spotted a heavily bearded man sat alone at a table, either asleep or passed out, with his head flung back and surrounded by empty beer glasses, snoring. I looked back at Thomas and smiled.

The girl finished adjusting the microphone and cleared her throat.

"Good evening Paris!" she said excitedly.

I looked around the room again,  _Man_ , I thought to myself,  _Paris has sure seen better days._ I clapped anyway, despite feeling completely unimpressed with the whole set-up.

Thomas turned to me again "Her name is Dianne"

I smiled and nodded, and he turned back to face her as she began singing.

She performed about 5 songs, all using her guitar. I must admit that she was very good, like Thomas had said. She had a sweet and gentle voice, and was clearly talented at playing the instrument. After her last song, she circulated the room with a glass for people to put change in, and as they did she thanked them politely. As she reached our table, she grinned at Thomas. 

"Hello, Thomas!" she said, excited as ever.

"Hey Dianne... you were amazing... as always" Thomas replied to her, putting a note into her glass. 

She moved her attention to me, still smiling. I opened my wallet and handed her 5 euros.

"Thank you, boys!" she chirped before turning and walking away.

Thomas moved his chair back around so he was facing me once again. We were half way through our second beer now, and it was my first chance to properly talk to him.

"So... you like this place then?" He questioned me.

"Yeah, I do. It's different... but nice, Dianne was good."

"I know-" Thomas grinned again. "-she plays every Thursday, I always try to come and see her, I love her voice."

"That's nice." I said, then realised I must have sounded a little blunt, so decided to change the topic. "How was your day?"

"Good! Well apart from work-" Thomas laughed, "-how was yours?"

"Yeah...good." I responded. 

Thomas nodded in response, then began looking around the room.

_Shit..._ I thought.  _I'm boring him._

Just as I was scrambling to find something to say, Thomas seemed to have a sudden idea.

"Hey, I know!" he exclaimed, wide-eyed.

"Mm?" I mumbled, before taking a drink from my pint.

"Let's go dancing!"

"Like- in a club?"

"Yeah, now! Come on it will be good!" 

He was already getting up from his seat by now, quickly downing the rest of his drink. I did the same, not arguing with what seemed a good idea.

We headed for the door, Thomas waving at a few people as we left.

"Do you mind if I just quickly go back to my apartment, to get changed into something more...appropriate?" Thomas chuckled.

"Sure" I said as we stepped out of the bar into the street together. 

Thomas led the short walk to his apartment, and we chatted a little, mostly small-talk about our surroundings. 

"I'll be 2 minutes, take a seat" Thomas offered as we entered his apartment.

I sat down on his sofa, looking around the room. He had clearly made progress on unpacking, as the room now looked like less of a drug den and more of an actual living room. 

Thomas was right, he was ready in 2 minutes. He emerged from his room in jeans and a baggy light blue shirt. He grabbed a leather jacket which was slung over the back of a chair and shrugged it on. 

"Let's go!" He said, leading us out of the room.

The walk to the club was a little longer than I expected, but it was bearable as the night was mild and Thomas was good company. When we finally arrived, we were allowed straight in as there was no queue. It was quite late by now, after all. 

The club was loud, hot and smoky. Just how I liked it.

I began making my way through the crowds of people towards the bar, deciding to get at least one more drink in me before I started dancing. Thomas joined me, and we easily downed two shots of vodka each.

Thomas was a little more reserved with dancing at first, despite being the one to suggest coming here. I was in my element, letting the music take over my body and not caring what I looked like whilst dancing, with admittedly, a little help from the alcohol. Slowly, he began to loosen up and soon enough we were both in the middle of the dancing crowds. I lost track of him for a while, but we were finally reunited at the bar buying more drinks. I saw him, and began to make my way over to him.

"Wanna leave?" I mouthed at him.

"Huh? why?" Thomas mouthed back.

I shrugged "Getting late." I mouthed again.

Thomas checked his watch and nodded, and I turned to start making my way out of the club. I began weaving through the crowd, most people had left by now but there was still quite a lot of people dancing.

Then, suddenly, I felt someone grasp my wrist. I turned around quickly, and saw no one but Thomas behind me. Sure enough, he was holding onto my wrist as he followed me. I turned again, and continued walking until we reached the exit and were back in the night air.

"Sorry, I kept getting caught up in crowds I didn't want to lose you." Thomas explained, slurring slightly.

"It's cool man"

"C'mon then, bed time for you." Thomas said, giggling a little.

The cool air of the night seemed to have a sobering effect on me, as I felt a lot more together than I had back inside the club. Clearly the same could not be said for Thomas.

"I'll take you home, lightweight." I said to Thomas laughing.

I began heading towards his apartment and he followed. It was a task getting him back home, as he kept wanting to sit down on the floor to rest or chase after pigeons in the street. It made me giggle a little, but I was sober enough to drag him out of the road or back up from the pavement when he sat down. Eventually, we made it to his front door and he slumped against it.

I stood in front of him, expecting him to reach for his keys and let himself in. Instead, he just looked at me, slightly cross-eyed and grinning.

"Let me in, Guy-MAN" Thomas slurred, then giggled.

"You have your keys Thomas..."

"Oh!-" Thomas laughed again "-and soooooooooo I do..."

He still didn't make any attempt to retrieve them however, and so I tried again

"Get them out of  your pocket, idiot," 

"Make me." Thomas pouted, crossing his arms.

I sighed, and reached into the front pocket of his jeans.

Thomas playfully slapped my hand away. "Naughty boy!" he gasped, then giggled, again.

_What on earth is this?_  I thought to myself.

Eventually, he managed to open his door and stumbled inside. He turned and waved at me.

"Good bye Guy Guy Guy BYE GUY!" he mumbled before staggering into his room.

_What exactly did he drink?_

"Goodnight trouble." I called after him, before shutting his door and heading back to my own apartment, grinning to myself the whole way back.

 

 


	5. Thomas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> not proof read again because yolo

The sudden sound of a bird crashing into my bedroom window woke me with a start the following morning. I yawned, whilst debating whether to leave my bed or not. The only thing that got me dragging myself out from my warm sheets and plodding towards the kitchen was the realisation I hadn't taken out my regular 'drinking precautions' of drinking lots of water throughout the night (as a drunk sleep for me was more drifting periodically between being awake and being asleep), and so was probably going to actually die if I didn't get myself hydrated and full of painkillers soon.

I downed two glasses of water easily, and swallowed several painkillers. After making myself some toast, I shuffled back into my bedroom and snuggled back under my sheets. Flicking the TV on, I turned to check the time. It was only 10:30 am, fairly early for the unemployed couch potato that is myself. Quickly and predictably, my thoughts soon wondered to Thomas. _I hope he's doing all right... He didn't seem to take drink too well..._ I thought to myself, thinking about the events of the previous night. _I wish I had his phone number, I could try calling him._ This thought made me realise that despite meeting several times, the only way we had of contacting each other was by me walking to his apartment and knocking on his door. I sighed. _That's a lot of effort and a bit creepy..._

Despite this, an hour later, I found myself making my way to his apartment with a box of painkillers. I knew that this idea simply came about as I was worried for his well-being after the night he had, but there was a nagging thought at the back of my mind mocking me as it knew this was partly just an excuse to see and speak to him.

I knocked on Thomas' door then stood back, waiting patiently for a response. The handle clicked and the door slowly opened. A rather bedraggled looking Thomas peered around the door, and he winced at the sunlight.

"Morning sunshine!" I said, smiling.

Thomas' eyes widened and his gaping mouth formed into a smile. "Oh, morning Guy-Man...everything ok?"

He was obviously a little confused by my visit, so I held up the box of painkillers I was holding. "I was worried about you. Thought you might need these?"

Thomas stepped out of his door and grabbed them from my hand, grinning. "Life saver! Come on in" He said as he turned and began walking towards his kitchen.

I stepped into his apartment and kicked my shoes off. 

"I'm so glad you came, I didn't have any of these-" Thomas said before popping several of the white tablets from their packet and swallowing them "-I don't get drunk often, I don't really know my limits" He said, then laughed.

"I know." I said, then rolled my eyes.

Thomas laughed again "I'm sorry! I wasn't _that_ bad was I?"

"From what I remember, yes. Drunk Thomas is a right pain in the arse..." I said, then winked.

Thomas looked a little shocked about my wink, and his cheeks began to turn a light shade of pink.

_Strange..._ I thought. _Drunk Thomas is obviously a lot more flirtatious than sober Thomas then..._

I cleared my throat, sensing the sudden awkwardness I had caused. "Anyway h-"

"-coffee?!" Thomas suddenly exclaimed, interrupting me.

"Uh...yeah...sure." I responded, sounding and feeling a little bewildered.

"Ok cool..." Thomas muttered as he began filling two mugs with coffee and sugar, and turning the kettle on. "Why don't we sit on the balcony? Go on out, I'll bring these out in a second." He suggested, gesturing in the direction of his balcony.

"Sure..." I said, pushing myself off of the counter I had been leaning on and making my way towards his balcony. I pulled back the door and stepped outside, then sat down on one of the two cheap, plastic chairs he had placed outside.

Two minutes later, Thomas emerged, a mug in each hand, concentrating on not spilling their contents as he walked.

"Aaaand...voila." Thomas said as he placed down the coffees and took a seat.

"Thanks, man." I replied, picking up my mug and placing it closer to me.

"Mm... soooo... our first chance at having a normal, sober conversation." Thomas said, smiling.

I felt a small blush warm my face, as I remembered the incident in the cafe, something Thomas was slyly implying about.

I laughed a little, trying to cover my embarrassment "Yes, that is true."

"So, who are you?"

I raised one eyebrow "What?"

"Oh... uh I mean _w-what_ are you?" Thomas said, and began to blush.

"You're still not making sense, Thomas." I laughed. "Do you mean you want me to tell you about myself?"

Thomas nodded, still blushing.

"Well you know all the important stuff about me already."

Thomas looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"We discussed our favourite movies and bands didn't we?"

"...yes?"

"Well then. Unless you want to hear about when I threw up during a school play when I was ten then that's pretty much the extent of things about me worth knowing."

Thomas laughed "Now I _really_ want to hear about that..."

"You _really, really_ do not. Trust me."

Thomas grinned. "Fine then. I'll just ask you next time you're drunk then."

"Next time? Who said I wanted to go out drinking with your lightweight arse again?"

"I did. It's happening."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

It was upon seeing the cheeky grin that Thomas then gave me that I suddenly began to realise... I liked him. Sure, I liked him as a friend, he's a nice person, but I suddenly felt like my feelings were beginning to make sense. The nagging thought at the back of my head that was always mocking ulterior motive for wanting to see Thomas, for finding him so interesting, despite not knowing much about him. Running out of the cafe in a panic... that made sense now too. I was attracted to a male, and I didn't know how to process the feeling...

"Guy-Man?" 

"Mm?!" I said, suddenly snapped out of my thoughts.

"I asked if you were ok, you've gone really pale..." Thomas said, frowning sounding genuinely concerned.

"Yeah, I'm good... hey Thomas uh.. you never told me... a-are you like...seeing anyone?"


	6. Cherub

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yet another i-can't-sleep-so-i-wrote-a-chapter ting. i should probably start proof reading myself... ho hum pigs bum.  
> enjoy.  
> WARNING- MAJOR DORKAGE... but that is quite the opposite of a problem

Thomas' facial expression shifted from one of concern to one of slight confusion. "Well, uh, not really? Well no... I'm not."

"Oh..." I responded, trying to sound as casual as I could manage.

I noticed a small smile begin to play on Thomas' lips, then he began smirking. "Why? You interested?"

"W-what?-" I stammered, feeling my face begin to burn "-no! Just curious... trying t-o, to, to find out more about you!"

Thomas burst out laughing, smacking his own thigh in amusement . "I was joking! Don't start crying! Gee..."

"Oh..." I managed a fake laugh "...Yeah I know you were!"

"Why are you blushing? Asshat!"

"Sorry, I'm not really with it today" I said, before taking several sips from my coffee.

"Are you ever?"

"Touché..."

It was better to laugh off my embarrassingly awkward social skills than to try and explain myself, and Thomas knew this.

I turned away from Thomas to observe our surroundings. He had a good view from here, although we were in view of the public walking past on the street below. 

"But..." Thomas said suddenly, causing me to quickly turn back to face him.

"Mm?" I mumbled, prompting him to continue. 

"...Dianne."

"Dianne?" I said, sounding as confused as I felt.

"Yeah, Dianne. Remember? The singer from the bar last night?"

"You mean the teenage girl with a guitar from the Victorian cave?-"Thomas looked slightly hurt by my comment, so I tried to save it quickly "-kidding..."

"She's 19 you know... She's really mature though...Like she lives by herself, well with a flatmate... But still.... Like not with her parents! And-"

"-What's your point here, stalker?" I said, interrupting him in an unintentionally sharp tone. Thomas looked hurt again, but I didn't bother backtracking this time. _It's not my fault he's so sensitive..._

"Well, _anyway,_ yeah I guess I like her... fancy her or whatever..." Thomas mumbled, looking down at his hands, which he was now fiddling with nervously while they rested on his lap.

"You sound and look like a teenage girl talking about her crush right now..."

He remained fixated on his hands.

I laughed. "Seriously? Why have you gone all embarrassed on me!-"

Thomas still didn't respond.

"-ah come on Thomas, you can tell me all about how much you _lurrrve_ Dianne, how much you want to _kiss_ Dianne..."

A small smile began to form on Thomas' mouth, and he was blushing.

" _Ooooh Dianne, I love you so much Dianne!"_ I said in a mocking, high-pitched voice.

Thomas got up from his seat and headed back inside, into his living room. "You're embarrassing me!" He called back once he was inside.

I quickly jumped to my feet and followed him inside, laughing to myself. "Don't cry cherub, I'm only joking!"

Thomas stopped and turned to face me, still smirking. "I get embarrassed easily ok!"

"Really? Wow cherub, I wouldn't have guessed."

"Hey don't call me th-"

"-cherub."

"Guy-Man, I'm warning you."

"Sweet little Thomas. The blushing angel-faced cher-"

Before I knew what was happening Thomas had tackled me to the floor and had me held against the carpet in what he must have thought constituted a headlock.

"You never told me you were a ninja!" I half-choked. 

"Mock me all you want, I'm still stronger than you" Thomas said, looking down at me struggling on the ground.

I took this as my queue to push his lanky body off of mine and swiftly switch positions with him, as he cried out and mumbled cuss words.

"Is that so, cherub?" I said, then laughed at the sight of him coughing helplessly under me (not in a sadistic way, mind you...)

"Let me go!" Thomas panted.

"Ok, only if you say that you're a silly little school girl though..." I relaxed my grip, so he could move his head but was still pinned against the floor.

"What the fuck is this!?" Thomas laughed, looking amused.

"Don't question me, cherub. Say it."

"I'm a silly little school girl, whatever." Thomas said, sounding defeated. 

I jumped up off of the floor and began straightening my clothes back out, still smiling.

Thomas pushed himself off of the floor

"Well that was traumatic." He huffed.

"You loved it."

"Stop flirting with me, Guy-Man..." Thomas uttered before turning and walking toward his kitchen.

Now it was my turn to blush like a school girl, but the smile on his face when he said it eased me as I knew he was just joking around. I began following him, humming to myself.

"I guess I should probably leave now I've nearly made you cry and tried to kill you?" I said as I sat down on one of his bar stools, leaning my elbows on the counter top.

Thomas pulled bottle of water from his fridge, then turned and shut the door. Leaning back against the fridge door he opened the bottle and took a few sips.

"Only if you want to, you can stay and creep me out some more if you _have_ to..."

"Sounds good to me." I replied.

I then accidentally brushed my crotch with my hand. _Oh...GOD..._

It was both astonishing and rather worrying that it had taken me so long to realise, yet there I was, in Thomas' kitchen, now blushing bright read and as hard as two rocks. _Merde..._


	7. Thursday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trying to make chapters a bit longer and more eventful after the car crash that was the previous two chapters. so far i've already made the booboo of writing the beginning in thomas' pov so i had to go back and change it... how did i even manage that? hopefully that wasn't an omen..

Fast forward a week or two, and the embarrassment from the inappropriate hard on incident had only just began to subside. I was blushing completely for my self this whole time, as Thomas hadn't even noticed. He had no idea. However, I did. I knew that I was attracted to him, an idea of which I had been only toying with since I realised it. After a period of musing to myself, I realised I had taken to this idea somewhat lightlyas, despite my previous self-denial of the matter due to the fact I was attracted to males, I had always known it to be true. From about the age of 11 or so I'd found myself having small crushes on boys every now and then, but always suppressed any development of feelings as I had never found a person quite like Thomas so have such intense feelings for.

Anyway, over this period since the awkward and sexually frustrating play fighting with Thomas, we had kept in contact and I could see our friendship blossoming. Through mostly late-night phone calls discussing random topics and joking around, and the occasional night out for a few drinks, I knew that we were now close friends, and that my crush on him was not going to dissolve any time soon.

It was now a Thursday evening, and I was just leaving my apartment to make my way to the creepy cave bar to meet him.

The air outside was warm, and the streets were still buzzing with activity. The walk to the bar seemed long, and weaving my way through the crowds of people on some streets felt as fast as walking through quicksand. But, I eventually made it and entered the bar with a small sigh. I spotted Thomas immediately, and made my way over to him, where he was waiting with a beer already purchased for me.

"Hey, man." I said as I reached the table, sitting down opposite him.

"Hey! How's it been?" Thomas responded, grinning at me the way he always did, which could appear creepy at times.

"Yeah, good. You know me, busy busy. It's non-stop when you're unemployed with no kids."

Thomas chuckled. "Ha- well, I myself have actually been quite busy.

I raised an eyebrow and took a swig of my beer. Those were two flaws I found in Thomas, he was impatient and liked talking about himself. However, I understand that nobody is perfect and Thomas' character is certainly less flawed than mine, so I allowed him to continue.

"I've been talking to the singing girl, you know? Dianne?" Thomas began.

I nodded.

"-Well yeah, I bumped into her at work and we were talking for a bit, then my supervisor started giving me daggers so I said I'd better get back to work, and she quickly wrote down her phone number and told me to call her, then she said 'Ciao' and walked off. It was crazy! It was that easy..." He said hurriedly, smiling and drumming his fingers on the table as he spoke.

"Oh..." I said, before realising the hint of disappointment in my voice so tried to cover it up. "-so did you call her?"

"Yeah!-" Thomas chirped, "-a few times, we were talking about, you know..." Thomas trailed off.

I nodded expectantly, urging him on.

"...Stuff. I don't know, random stuff. Just stuff."

"Fair enough...stuff."

Thomas smiled again, "Yeah. Stuff. Nice stuff."

"Right... And I suppose it's just a coincidence that we're here tonight and she performs on a Thursday?" 

Thomas shook his head, still talking gulps from his beer. "No..." He said once he had swallowed, "-She's not performing tonight. She said she's spending the week with her parents so she can't."

This improved my mood greatly. I wouldn't have to compete for Thomas' attention, and we could just enjoy our night together in this strange little bar which, all of a sudden, felt a lot more likeable. 

As the night, and equally the conversation (along with our blood alcohol levels), progressed, so did my admiration for Thomas' features. There were times when I'd find myself staring right at his face as he babbled on about something or another, soaking in each individual and beautiful feature. Then, he'd appear to ask me a question and I'd snap out of it in shock, and just simply nod my head and agree to save embarrassment. 

As it approached midnight we were both slurring our words and getting a little rowdy, talking and laughing loudly in the near-empty bar.

Then the conversation took an uncomfortable turn.

"So, big man. Tell me, who's the lucky lady in your life right now?" Thomas slurred, leaning forward over the table.

I felt my cheeks warm a little "Uh, no one at the minute to be honest."

"Oh, how so?"

"Don't know. Haven't really met any girls since I moved here."

Thomas pulled a face. "That's no excuse, you've gotta get yourself out there!"

I took a sip from my beer. Even though I was fairly drunk I could still see this was like taking relationship advice from a ten year old.

I nodded anyway, I may have been to quick to judge Thomas' technique with the opposite sex, but to date, I hadn't seen much evidence of it. That's a flaw in my character, by the way. I can be hypocritical to no end. Nobody's perfect.

Thomas sat back in his chair, one arm crossed over his chest, the other holding a bottle of beer. "You don't talk much, Guy-Man."

I raised an eyebrow. "You talk a lot."

Thomas looked slightly surprised, then amused. "Fair point." He chuckled, then winked at me, making me blush.

............................................................

Now fast forward another few weeks of random phone calls and idle nights spent sat at bars with Thomas. I was still unemployed (granted I hadn't made any effort to actually get a job though as money from my parents was still flowing in...) and Thomas had been on several dates with Dianne, and she was apparently 'very nice and very interesting and very pretty and very funny and very....nice.'

This is where we come full circle to when I began telling this story. I'm currently sat in the cinema with Thomas while he gets all nerdy and excited about this stupid film. I think it's nearly finished (finally), and it's taken me half of the film to tell that story. What will happen from this point onwards is uncertain, and the only thing I'm sure of is my feelings for Thomas will continue to grow stronger and cause me increasingly sleepless nights as they have been this past month. 

I had also recently realised a few more things about Thomas. He blushed uncontrollably when talking about Dianne, the way a young girl does when asked about her crush, he never completely closes his mouth, which adds to his dorky but cute look, and was primarily a bumbling fool whilst sober, but when drunk he turned into a flirtatious and cheeky devil. Never acting on his words though, sadly.

"Did you like that?" Thomas said suddenly, turning to face me.

"Hm?" I mumbled, jumping out of my daze and coming around to realise the film had just ended and the credits had started rolling. "-uh, yeah. Sure."

The lights came on, revealing Thomas frowning at me. "Did you sleep through it?" 

"No!" I laughed "-it was good, I didn't sleep."

Thomas rolled his eyes.

I laughed, "I didn't sleep! Why don't you believe me?" 

"Fine, whatever then." Thomas smiled as we got up to leave the screen. 

"You know I love our little dates together, cherub." I said as we headed out of the cinema.

Thomas scrunched his nose up. "I thought you had forgotten about that nickname... Not in public..." He said, sounding embarrassed. 

I laughed. "Not in public? Oh I see... you want to keep me as your secret lover then..." I said, then winked at him.

His face flushed red and he became flustered. "No, I didn't mean t-that, I j-just... Don't call me that. Alright?"

I laughed again, sticking my bottom lip out at him. "Oh I'm sorry, petal. Don't cry..."

Thomas rolled his eyes again. "You're an embarrassment to be with in public, you know that?"

I grinned at him. "Yep. You love it."

"Mm...behave." Thomas said, a small smile playing around on his lips.

Thomas pulled up his sleeve to check his watch as we walked out of the front of the cinema building.

"Shit!" He cried.

"What?"

"I'm meant to meet Dianne... 10 minutes ago!" Thomas said in a panicked tone.

I shrugged at him. "Go then, idiot."

"Yeah, sure... Uh sorry I have to run off like this, I'll see you later! Bye" He said hastily before running off towards several taxis sat waiting at the side of the road.

I sighed, then walked off in the opposite direction, heading home. I did the zip of my jacket up right to the top and dug my chin and mouth into the collar and dug my hands deep into my pockets. I walked the whole way back to my apartment slowly, kicking at rocks and bits of rubbish on the pavement as I went.

I let myself into my apartment and kicked off my shoes, throwing my jacket onto the floor. I dragged myself over to my bed and flopped down on it. Sighing again, I reached my hand down the side of my bed and searched around blindly. Grabbing onto it, I pulled it up and rest it on my chest, with some of its material draped over my chin and tickling my nose. I then undid my belt buckle and the zip to my jeans, then wriggled them down slightly. I stuck my hand into my boxers, and began masturbating to the smell of Thomas' worn jacket he'd accidentally left at my apartment. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wasn't quite as 'action' packed as i wanted this to be, but i'm probably going to write another chapter later on as today is a very rare no-school-and-no-work day, so it hopefully won't be written in a tired frenzy :)


	8. Good boy (NSFW)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GOOD LORD.
> 
> p.s ill proof-read later

I didn't sleep well that night, only managing a few naps that lasted half an hour or so each. I'd spent most of the night either sat on my balcony drinking wine and smoking or sat on my bed drinking wine and smoking. This had become a regular occurrence for me now, happening near enough every night. It was safe to say that myself and 3am were becoming quite good friends.

By the time I had reached my sixth cigarette and second glass of wine, I'd come to the conclusion that this would be my life forever if I couldn't be with Thomas, a miserable and tedious existence spent alone. Dramatic, I know, but that explains how I felt about him. 

As sad as it may seem, I felt like I was only living when I was spending time with him, and as if every hour in between seeing him was just spent waiting in anticipation and not truly enjoyed by myself. In other words, I was happy when I was with Thomas, and desolate when not.

With thoughts of Thomas came thoughts of Dianne, and the jealously I felt towards the girl grew each time he mentioned her. He was clearly smitten, and I could hardly bear it. 

Sunrise brought motivation, and I dragged myself from under my bed sheets and showered. I then fixed myself up a sizeable breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast and coffee and made my way to my balcony in my dressing gown to devour it. It was still early into the day as I sat scoffing down the food, the morning air slightly chilly now the warming effect of the alcohol had started to wear off, but I shivered through it. After eating the last scraps of food from my plate, I sat back in my chair, stretching. I then let out a sigh, realising that cooking breakfast and washing was probably the extent of how productive and worthwhile my day would be. Drumming my fingers against the table, I contemplated looking around places for a job. _Hm, maybe not..._

Returning to my bed for a rest, I snuggled up to a pillow and shut my eyes. After laying there for about 10 minutes, the sound of my phone ringing startled me. Squinting, I searched frantically on my bedside table for it, finally grabbing it and glancing at the screen. It was Thomas calling.

"Hello?" I mumbled, after answering and putting the phone to my ear, still laying down on my bed.

"Ah! You're awake then!" Thomas chirped.

"Well...yeah..."

"Of course." Thomas laughed "-silly me. Well anyway, so what's up?"

"Just laying in bed, being a productive member of society as always." I replied.

"Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit you know, Guy-Man." Thomas said, sounding slightly out of breath as if he was walking. 

"Hm, well. Anyway, what do you want?"

"No need to be rude, cheeky." Thomas chuckled.

This made me smile, and I sat up in bed, running my free hand though my damp and tangled hair.

"-I was wondering if you wanted to meet up, like, later?" Thomas continued.

"Like, today?" 

"Yeah."

"Can't you get enough of me or something Thomas? God..." I laughed.

"N-no...I just...-" Thomas stuttered, I could tell when he was embarrassed without even seeing his face. The comparison of drunk Thomas reacting to jokes like this compared to sober Thomas reacting to similar remarks was quite something.

"Kidding, Thomas." I stated, matter-of-factly. 

"I'm just walking to work now, I'll be done at 6 if you want to meet me or something..."

"Uh...-" I paused, trying to make it sound as if I wasn't as excited by the offer as I actually was. "-Sure. Meet you outside your work at 6 then?"

"Cool. We could find a bar or something, whatever we fancy." 

"Cool. See you then. Bye."

"See ya, Guy-Man." Thomas said before ending the call.

I dropped my phone onto the bed, grinning. I then snuggled back under my bed covers, deciding to have a nap, as I had plenty of time to kill before meeting Thomas. Within five minutes I was in a deep sleep, which was a small miracle in itself. 

..............................................

My 'nap' turned into a six hour slumber, and I woke up of my own accord at around 5pm. I jumped out of bed and began getting ready to meet Thomas. I brushed my teeth and washed my face, then got dressed in jeans, a tight black polo shirt and my slightly tattered leather jacket. 

I reached the supermarket at around ten to six, and stood outside, leaning against a lamp post. Not long after, I saw Thomas exiting the building from the front entrance, alongside a female colleague who must have been finishing her shift at the same time as him. He was chatting to her as he walked towards me, and I was so fixated on the animated hand gestures he made as he spoke that I didn't give the girl a second glance until they were both within an arms reach of me. Thomas stopped and turned to the girl, who thankfully hadn't looked in my direction yet. 

As Thomas was saying goodbye to the girl, I felt my face flush and my legs felt weak. My stomach started to turn as if I was about to be sick. It was her. The girl I had slept with then kicked out of my apartment, resulting in some harsh words and a slap from her. Time seemed to have slowed down, and they were still both facing each other as if I wasn't there. The privilege of her not noticing me was, however, short lived. And as she turned to walk away from Thomas, her eyes locked with mine. We both froze for a second, my face feeling as if it was on fire. She obviously remembered me. We both blinked at each other, she looked as shocked and scared as I felt, and luckily she simply turned and scurried away without a single word. 

I turned my attention to Thomas, still feeling as if I was about to throw up.

"Guy-Man? Are you ok?" Thomas asked, sounding concerned. 

"Y-yeah, fine, just..." I stuttered.

"What?" Thomas said, frowning.

"Nothing." I said and smiled. 

"Ok then....-" Thomas said, sounding bewildered and glancing towards his colleague, who I was still fixated on as she walked into the distance. "-do you know her?" He asked.

I shook my head quickly.

"Uh, Guy-Man... didn't you get my text?" Thomas said quietly, sounding concerned. 

"Hm? No?" I said, turning my attention to him. I hadn't checked my phone since our phone call earlier that morning, so I fumbled in my jacket pocket and pulled out my phone.

"Oh..." I heard Thomas mutter as I unlocked my phone and opened up our text conversation. I had one unread message from him.

'Hey Guy-Man. Really sorry but I forgot I had already planned to meet Dianne tonight. Sorry about that, can we do this some other time?' The message read.

"Oh." I mumbled as I re-locked my phone and placed it back into my jacket pocket.

Thomas shrugged, frowning.

"I'm sorry I thought you would have seen it." He said, sounding uneasy. 

"It's uh... No problem. My fault for not checking my phone, eh?" I said, faking a smile but struggling to disguise the disappointed tone to my voice.

Thomas didn't say anything, but stood with his hands in his jacket pocket, shifting his weight from one foot to the other and back again.

"Um... alright then..." I said, slowly.

"Sorry." Thomas said, chewing on his bottom lip. 

I tried to think of something else to say, but couldn't, so I turned and began to walk away.

Half way down the street I glanced backwards to see if Thomas was still there, but he had disappeared. I then began walking faster, head down, hands in my jacket pockets. I swore at myself under my breath for crying, but I couldn't help the tears welling in my eyes. I kept my head down as I rushed back home through the crowds of people, making sure not to look up to allow the world to see what a fucking baby I was being. I felt like I was completely overreacting, but it didn't stop the tears and the horrible feeling of rejection that sat brewing at the bottom of my stomach. 

The first thing that I did once I made it back into my apartment was rush to the kitchen. I grabbed a bottle of wine and packet of crisps and settled on my sofa, chugging the wine and munching through the entire packet of crisps. I had stopped crying by now but was still sniffling like a baby, and admittedly just feeling completely sorry for myself. It was a lot to take in the span of about two minutes, seeing _her_ was like someone had shook my insides ferociously, and then the notion that Thomas had chosen Dianne over me was like someone had kicked my gut with steel cap boots on. 

I sighed as I licked the last few crumbs and grease from the crisps off of my fingers. I settled back on the sofa and reached for the TV remote, turning it on. I flipped to some rubbish sitcom and began watching, trying anything to take my mind off of Thomas. 

..............................................

The sudden shrill of my doorbell made me jump awake, feeling a little dazed. I looked around. I must have fallen asleep watching the TV, as it was still on and I was laying on the sofa. As I got up I checked my phone to look at the time. _11:34... who the fuck could be knocking at my door at this time of the night?_ I thought to myself as I stumbled over to my front door. As my door doesn't have a peep hole, I secured the sliding chain lock before opening it as much as the chain would allow. 

"Hello?" I called, peaking around the door to see who was there. It was Thomas. 

I let out a sigh. The last person I wanted to see at this time. _I knew I would regret giving him the pin for my apartment building..._

"Hey, uh... Can I come in?" Thomas said quietly, shifting his feet awkwardly.

I unlocked the chain and stepped back, forcing a smile as Thomas entered. 

"Sorry about earlier-" Thomas began as he started untying his shoes. "-I felt bad so came to see you."

"I don't need to see you to function you know, Thomas." I half joked. _Ha..._

Thomas smiled. "Yes you do."

I could smell the alcohol on his breath, and he was slurring his words slightly.

"How was your date then?" I said, managing to force a element of artificial interest into my words as I made my way back to the sofa and sat down, followed my Thomas.

"Yeah it was good!-" He said as he sat down next to me, putting one leg up and tucking it underneath the thigh of his other leg. "-we went for dinner."

"Cool... So how comes you're now at my apartment and not at yours with her." I blurted out, not meaning to sound as crass as I did.

Thomas let out a small giggle. "Don't know. Not time yet I guess... Soon though.-" He grinned. "-Soon."

I raised one eyebrow "Not one for being spontaneous then?" I joked.

"I guess not." Thomas replied, looking around my apartment. "-Did a bomb go off in here?" He said, pulling a face.

I looked around too and laughed. "Don't judge me. You're about the bachelor life too."

"Yeah, not the haphazard bachelor life though. I'm not judging." Thomas said, then winked.

I smiled at him, and he smiled back. His wonky, half-smile made my heart jump, and it reminded me of how strongly I felt about him. Thomas took out his phone and began fiddling with it, presumably texting someone. I remained fixated on his face, surveying each fine detail of his structure with my eyes. He smiled suddenly, a wide, toothy grin. 

I bit my bottom lip. "What are you grinning at?" I questioned him.

Thomas turned to look at me, still smiling. "Mm..." he responded.

"Mm?"

"I'm talking to Dianne"

I accidentally let out a sigh and rolled my eyes, the effect of all the alcohol I had consumed causing me to portray emotions I would normally hide when around Thomas.

Thomas frowned, putting his phone down. "What?" He slurred slightly, his eyes foggy with intoxication. 

"I didn't say anything..." I replied, also slurring.

"You sighed and rolled your eyes?" Thomas questioned.

"Yeah..ugh...I-I..."

Thomas squinted at me, looking slightly confused.

"Guy-Man..."

"Yes?"

"...Are you jealous because I'm dating Dianne?"

I managed a fake laugh. "What?! No!" I cried, which caused what I interpreted as a hint of dejection to flash across Thomas' face. "-I don't like... fancy you... is that what you're hinting at?" I half-snarled at Thomas.

He looked a little taken aback. "Uh... No. I j-just..."

I suddenly became aware of the overwhelming awkwardness in the air, despite us both being in an intoxicated state. I rose to my feet and walked into my kitchen. Thomas followed me.

"Sorry, Guy-Man... I don't really know what I meant." Thomas said, leaning against a kitchen counter as I pulled a glass from the cabinet and turned on the tap to fill it with water.

"Mm..." I mumbled as I turned and leant against the sink so I was facing Thomas, taking a sip from the glass.

 "I-" Thomas began, but I interrupted him.

"-A little bit." I said, bluntly.

"What?" Thomas replied, confused. 

"I guess I am a bit jealous of Dianne. There I said it." I said, slamming the glass down onto a counter top whilst shaking slightly.

I looked at the floor, refusing to meet Thomas' eye to see his reaction to what I had just said.

After a few seconds of silence, Thomas cleared his throat. "Oh... Why?"

I shrugged. _I've started now..._ I thought to myself. _Might as well go on._ "Because, b-because-" I gulped, still looking at the floor. "-I feel like I have to compete for your attention or whatever... yeah." I regretted each word as it fell from my mouth, but at the same time, each one seemed to slightly lift a weight from my chest. 

I dared to look up, Thomas was focused on me, looking puzzled with his mouth hanging open and his brow furrowed. "I can have friends and a girlfriend, Guy... I don't have to pick...." He said quietly and slowly.

I felt my cheeks flush crimson. "I-I..." I stuttered, not managing to form any words beyond that to say what I wanted to say.

I looked down at the floor again, my heart pounding in my chest.

I saw Thomas' feet step forwards towards me, and then one of his arms began to slowly and unsurely lift towards my face. I gulped as I felt his fingers gently touch my cheek, sending an electric tingle down my spine which extended all the way to the tips of my toes. I lifted my head slightly and looked up at him. He was focused on his hand as he gently brushed my hair out of my face and carefully tucked it behind my ear. 

"I'm... I'm sorry." Thomas whispered, returning his arm back to his side and taking a step back.

"No...please..." I muttered, stepping forward to re-close the gap between us, longing his touch once again.

Thomas lent against the counter again as I reached out and tenderly placed one hand on his chest, looking up at him as he stood, biting his lip and refusing to break eye contact with me.

Thomas let out a tender sigh, with a slight look of sadness tainting his otherwise lustful expression.

"I can't, Guy-Man, I can't." Thomas mumbled, closing his eyes. 

"Why...Thomas...Please..." I begged him quietly, growing increasingly impatient. I just wanted him. I wanted all of him, right there and then. I wanted him to be mine.

"I have a girlfriend, Guy..." He replied quietly, his eyes still shut.

I pulled away from him, a sudden wave of pent-up anger and frustration suddenly releasing. My feelings overtook my concious mind and I became a slave to my rage. I turned and grabbed the empty drinking glass off of the side and threw it against the wall at the opposite side of my kitchen. It hit a framed picture of my parents and brother and both items smashed, shards of glass and the frame of the picture showering to the floor. Thomas winced, a look of horror on his face.

"I don't give a fuck about your fucking girlfriend!" I shouted, shaking with frustration. 

Thomas looked at me like a rabbit caught in headlights. "G-Guy..." He stammered. 

I turned my back to him, grasping onto the sides of the kitchen counter and trying to take deep breaths. "What, Thomas?" I said, bluntly.

I felt his hand placed gently on one side of my waist, which made me open my eyes suddenly in shock. Another tingle rushed through my entire body and I took a deep breath, my heart feeling as if it was going to jump out of my ribcage at any second.

"Guy..." Thomas mumbled, digging his face into my neck and nuzzling gently.

I turned around suddenly, causing Thomas to jump away from me, looking shocked. I pushed him backwards against the opposite counter.

"Don't fuck around Thomas, don't fuck around..." I muttered, still shaking.

"Guy I'm not fuc-" Thomas started, but stopped as I pushed myself against him and began kissing him violently. 

"Don't...fuck...around..." I panted between kisses, having to gasp for air each time we briefly pulled away. 

Thomas was kissing back, our tongues fighting roughly and passionately. We took turns biting the other's lip as I continued pushing my body against him, grinding my stomach against his crotch.

I reached down and began fiddling with his belt buckle, struggling to undo it. Thomas reached down and helped, our sweaty hands awkwardly working together in a frenzied attempt to unfasten it. Thomas then moved his hands down to my trousers, and we undid each other's buttons and zips in unison, before moving back to our own trousers and pulling them down. I moved my face away from kissing Thomas briefly to wriggle out of my trousers, and he took this opportunity to try and gain dominance over the situation. 

As soon as I straightened back up from taking my trousers off, Thomas pushed me backwards by my chest, using both of his hands. My back crashed against the opposite counter which hurt, but I pushed away the feeling of pain. He began kissing me roughly again, both of us moaning and panting into each other's mouths. He moved his hands from the back of my head and my cheek to my waist, and began trying to lift me. I helped him by pushing myself up until I was seated on the counter top. Thomas looked at me, grinning. There was a hungry look in his eye and in that moment, I knew he wanted me too. 

Thomas quickly struggled to pull off his trousers, then returned his attention to me once they were laying on the floor next to mine. He gave me a few more kisses on my lips, his hand lost in the tangled mess of my hair. He then lifted up the bottom of my shirt, and I lifted my arms and allowed him to remove it completely. We kissed once more, slowly this time, before Thomas began kissing and pecking his way down my neck and torso, stopping occasionally to suck a love bite onto my skin. One he reached my stomach his kisses became slower, teasing me. I nested both of my hands into his curly hair, gently holding onto his head as he moved down. He stopped just before the band of my underwear and looked up at me, grinning.

"I told you I'm not fucking around, Guy..." He said quietly, looking directly into my eyes.

This made me roll my eyes back and bite my lip, moaning gently as I felt my throbbing hard on brush against his throat. 

Thomas pulled my underwear back, extremely slowly, causing me to give a gentle push to his head, urging him on and letting him know I couldn't wait any longer.

"Thomas...please..." I gasped, breathing deeply in an attempt not to scream in frustration. 

Thomas was bending down, his head directly above my crotch. I could feel his hot breaths against the skin above my underwear, and the sensation intensified with each bit of skin he slowly revealed. 

Finally, he pulled back my underwear enough for my cock to be seen. This appeared to give Thomas a sudden, overwhelming hunger as he stopped teasing and quickly pulled the rest of the material back.

"Mm..." He moaned as he took my cock in his hands and began giving small, gentle licks to its head. I moaned with each lick, and he began moving down to the base, planting small kisses as he went. He took my balls in his hands and began massaging them gently for a few seconds, before moving his head back up the length of my cock. He began swirling his tongue around the head, causing me to grasp is hair and moan loudly, which seemed to excite him even more.

Thomas then began taking my cock in his mouth, a little at first, but then warming to the feeling and taking it further and further with each movement of his head. He worked magically, his tongue moving perfectly and his throat tightening a perfect amount without causing him to choke. His lips worked too, gently sucking with each movement both up and down. He began getting gradually faster, with one hand resting on my thigh and the other helping him by jerking whatever remainder of my length wasn't in his mouth. 

I felt the muscles in my stomach tighten as I came closer and closer to finishing. 

Thomas was moving at a rapid speed now, the synchronisation between his tongue, lips and hand skewing as my cock twitched in his mouth. 

"Oh... I'm gonna..." I gasped as I bucked my hips forward, accidentally pushing Thomas' head, which I was still grasping, downwards. Thomas chocked and spluttered as I reached an orgasm and came deep inside his throat, causing him to choke even more and pull himself away. I continued cumming, onto his face and in his mouth. I gasped as soon as I had finished, the wave of the intense orgasm still causing my body to shake and feel extremely sensitive. 

Thomas' eyes were watering and he was still coughing, his face covered in my cum. 

"Are you okay?" I panted, reaching down to wipe his face.

"Yeah..." Thomas mumbled, regaining his breath.

My cock gave one final twitch before resting against my stomach. Thomas stood up and I grinned at him. He repositioned himself, and stood between my legs as I wrapped them around him. I wiped the rest of my cum off of his cheek and chin with my thumb, then pushed it into his mouth. He sucked on it obediently, not breaking eye contact with me as he did so.

"Oh...good boy..." I mumbled as he sucked on my thumb, grinning at me.

We both paused for a few seconds, looking at each other and in silence apart from the sound of our panting. 

I reached a hand behind Thomas' neck and pulled him closer, leaning in to kiss him again. We began kissing gently, and I could taste the saltiness of my cum on his lips, but I didn't mind. We started kissing roughly again, and I was aching to just have every part of his body, my fingers tingling with each touch to his skin. I could feel myself quickly becoming hard again after a while of Thomas grinding his crotch against mine, and I moved my head to kiss at his neck, moaning gently into it as he pushed his hand into my hair.

As soon as I felt hard enough, I pulled away from his neck and grinned at him. 

"I've got to fucking have you, Thomas..." I moaned before pushing myself off of the side. 

Thomas stood awkwardly for a second, so I grabbed onto his hair and pushed him, stomach-down, onto the counter. He hit it with a gentle _'hmpf'_ which made me grin wickedly.

I pulled down Thomas' underwear as he lay against the counter, looking back at me and smiling. I stepped back for a second, admiring the sight I had longed for. Thomas, ready and waiting for me to fuck him. Not much could compare to this. I stood for a little while, watching him wait patiently, stroking my cock until it was hard enough again.

"Shit..." I muttered, suddenly realising what I was missing. Luckily, I quickly remembered that I had a bottle in my room so, after demanding Thomas to stay put, rushed off to my room to grab the lube. Returning to the kitchen, Thomas was still where I left him. I grinned.

"Ah, good boy..." I said quietly as I opened the bottle and squirted some into my hands. I rubbed the lube onto my cock, and then moved my attention to Thomas. 

Gently touching his entrance with one lube-covered finger, he shivered and then moaned. I gradually used more fingers to work the lubricant around the skin, before slowly entering a single finger.

"Oh..." Thomas cried out, and I bit my bottom lip and I pushed my finger in deeper. He shivered again as I added another finger, stretching him out slightly.

"You ready?" I asked, to which Thomas nodded in response, still facing away from me.

I spread his legs apart a bit further, giving myself room to stand between them. I took my cock in my hands and began slowly teasing him by rubbing the end around his tight entrance,  earning me a long, quiet moan. Then, I pushed in. Closing my eyes, I pushed as far as I could go and then stopped for a second.

"You okay?" I questioned him quickly.

"Yeah, please fuck me... Guy-Man... please..." Thomas responded, his voice thick with desire. 

I pulled backwards and then thrust back in again, hard. Grabbing onto his hips I began pounding into him quickly. Thomas gasped several times, and began moaning my name. He was tight...so fucking tight... I felt as if I was hurting him but I just wanted to fuck him so hard, and he seemed to be enjoying it as much as I was, so I kept thrusting into him with force. As I was fucking him, I suddenly became hungry to see his facial expression as he took the whole of my cock inside of him. Pulling away from a second, I tapped his side.

"Flip." I said, panting.

Thomas pushed himself up and then onto the counter, on his back. I re-positioned myself between his legs again and pushed my cock back into him, now leaning forward onto his chest, my arms under his shoulders and face buried in his neck as he scratched at my back. 

His own hard cock was rubbing against my stomach with each thrust I took, causing him to moan even more. I wanted him to cum before me, so I reached down between our sweaty bodies and began stroking his cock in rhythm with my hips. 

"Oh..GOD" Thomas called out, his cock twitching in my hand.

I felt his body tense and his legs buckle. Then, with a load moan, I felt him cum over my hand and stomach, as well as his own body. He lay panting, as I took my final thrusts into him before I pulled out and came again, all over his stomach. My legs felt like jelly and my head was spinning as I stepped back, admiring the sticky mess on Thomas and he lay with his eyes shut, looking exhausted and panting on my kitchen counter. 

I ran one hand through my hair, still trying to regain my breathing. Thomas opened his eyes and looked at me.

"Shit." He said.

 


	9. Caroline

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry more short chapters because my attention span is actually about 5 mins so i have to do this in short parts!! also fuck these chapter titles im just putting random words now the next one will be called fucking like cabbage or something ILL PROOF READ THIS LATER !!

I picked up my phone, checking to see if I had received a new text message in the time since I last checked it approximately 30 seconds ago. Upon seeing the blank screen I sighed and placed my phone back on the kitchen counter. 

I was waiting for a reply from Thomas as I had sent him several texts since he had left after we had sex the previous night. It was now the following evening, and despite sending him countless texts, I had heard nothing from him, which was peculiar. He left swiftly after we fucked, saying only a few words as he awkwardly collected his clothes and hurried out of the door, only muttering a farewell. Still in a daze caused by the encounter, I sent him a short text.

 _'You've done that before.'_  It read, with a winky face at the end. That was my exact thought, he was no stranger to gay sex. He couldn't have been, the way he handled the situation. It wasn't awkward, no fumbling around, he knew exactly what he was doing and I followed his lead. 

A short while later, I sent him another message- _'Did you get home ok?'_

An hour later, still no reply. I decided to call it a day and sent  _'Goodnight, text me when you wake up xx'_ before drifting off to sleep, my phone still next to me on my pillow.

The first thing I did in the morning was check it, but Thomas still had not replied. I felt disheartened, but sent another as I was also a little concerned. I was also feeling sore, but we needn't go into that.

 _'Thomas are you ok? I'm worried let me know you're ok'_  The final message read.

I shrugged to myself. I figured he was probably at work right now, and so wouldn't be able to reply to me. I tried my best to distract myself from constantly checking for messages, but it was difficult, and I spent the whole day worrying about him. Late that evening, I finally caved in and decided to ring him. Nervously chewing and my finger nails as my phone dialled, I settled on the sofa, knees hugged into my chest. My heart jumped as the numbing sound of the dialling was replaced with a slight crackling sound and then breathing. It was Thomas breathing, he had answered but was yet to speak. 

I gulped.

"H-Hello?" I said, nervously. 

There was a slight yet agonising pause, then Thomas finally spoke. "Yes?"

My heart dropped a little. Thomas sounded annoyed. 

"Are you ok? You haven't replied to any of my texts..."

"I'm fine."

"Did you get my messages?"

"...Yes."

"Oh..." I said, quietly. I was panicking a little as I wasn't sure where I was taking this conversation, I was just desperate to know that Thomas was all right.

Thomas then cleared his throat, and I paused, expecting him to say something, but after a few seconds it was apparent he wasn't going to speak. 

"Uhh...-" I began, sweating nervously now. "-are you annoyed at me or...something..."

"No."

 _Passive-aggressive little shit..._  I thought to myself.

"You sound it."

"So, you know Caroline then?" Thomas scorned. 

"Huh? C-Caroline?"

"Don't play dumb, you saw her when you came to see me after work yesterday. That girl. I asked you about her."

"W-wh-what?" I stuttered, struggling to make sense of the situation.

"I work with her, Guy-Man. She told me about you today. You know what I'm talking about." 

My heart dropped and my stomach began doing double flips. I felt like I was going to be sick right there and then, a similar feeling to when I saw her walking with Thomas, only worse. My mouth had gone dry and I struggled to form any words.

"I...I..." Is all I managed to blurt out as my head began spinning.

I heard Thomas sigh at the other end of the phone. "I didn't think you were like that." He said bluntly.

"Like-like what? I'm not like...that... whatever that is? What?!" I mumbled, unsure of each word that fell messily from my tongue. 

"One to use people, Guy-Man. I didn't think you were one to use people like that."

I was completely shocked by this situation, and was still struggling to make sense of anything that Thomas was saying. He was clearly annoyed with me, but I wasn't completely sure as to why. Was it because of the first text I sent him about how he must have 'done this' before? Was it because he was close with this Caroline girl and I had obliviously upset or offended her? So many thoughts were running through my mind at the same time and they all seemed to blur into each other until nothing made sense at all. Before I knew what I was doing I had opened my mouth and blurted out what my subconscious must have been trying to scream at me.

"Are you just mad because you cheated on your girlfriend with me?"

I heard Thomas take a sharp intake of breath before the phone went dead, he'd hung up on me.

Immediately I threw my phone to the floor and cursed to myself, then buried my face into my knees as tears began rolling down my cheeks.

 _You fucked up, you fucked up, you fucked up..._  I began muttering to myself repeatedly, my self-hatred increasing with each chant. 

The tears wouldn't stop coming, and I found myself sobbing hopelessly like a baby, struggling to control my ugly snivelling. I cried until I felt like I couldn't cry any more, and I was reduced to pathetic gasps for air as I tried to calm myself down. I'd never felt more stupid. I was completely smitten for Thomas and just as things had taken a good turn, something stupid I had done whilst drunk had backfired and slapped me in the face. _Typical._

Pushing myself up from the sofa, I walked over to my phone and picked it off of the floor. My thumbs hovered over the keys for a few seconds as I debated trying to ring Thomas again to attempt to sort this mess out. It only took picturing his sweet face to persuade myself to ring him, even though I did sigh at myself for caving in so easily. 

The call went through to voice mail, so I tried again. Voice mail, again. I tried once more before giving up. I wasn't giving up completely, however, as I made a quick dash to my bathroom to splash my face with cold water in an attempt to calm my swollen eyes. I then grabbed my jacket and put a pair of shoes on before leaving my apartment.

With each step towards Thomas's apartment came growing fear, nervousness and apprehensiveness. As soon as his building was in sight, my throat and chest tightened. I had to stop and lean against a wall for a few minutes in order to compose myself before making my way up to his front door. Taking a deep breath, I gave two unsure knocks to his door. I stepped back, waiting for the door to open. It didn't, and I heard no noise from inside, so I knocked again, louder and more urgently this time.

The door opened suddenly, Thomas pulling it right back to reveal himself standing there. He looked displeased and slightly upset, and he said nothing as he stared at me. I stared back for a few seconds, unable to think of the right words to say. Yet again I had no plan of what I wanted to tell him, and so found myself stuck.

I didn't need to speak first, however, as Thomas spoke suddenly.

"You used me." 

"I didn't...-" I said, nervously shuffling my weight from one leg to the other. 

Thomas gulped, biting on his bottom lip.

I continued, "-I didn't use you."

"What was that then..." Thomas questioned.

I paused, this was an awkward question to answer.

"I, uh... what do you fucking want me to say?"

Thomas shrugged. "Don't know."

"Well what was it to you?" I said, sounding accidentally aggressive and confrontational. 

Thomas shrugged again.

I laughed ironically, and turned to walk away. I had nothing more to say to him.

"Wait...-" Thomas called after me, causing me to stop dead and turn around to face him again.

"-Please come inside, please?... I need to talk to you..."

I followed him into his apartment, both of us in silence as I removed my shoes and then stood awkwardly at the door, waiting for him to say something else.

Thomas made his was to sit at his sofa and I followed him, sitting as far away at the opposite of the end of the sofa as I could. His eyes looked a little watery, and mine felt it. _This is pathetic..._ I thought to myself.

Thomas managed a small and lop-sided smile as a single tear began rolling slowly down his cheek. "Did I overreact?" He asked, his voice low and soft.

I tried my best at a smile too, my eyes fogging over at the sight of him crying. "...Yes."

He laughed gently.

"I'm sorry..." I mumbled.

"Me too, oh _God..._ I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry." Thomas snivelled.

"Hey... oh God no don't cry... Thomas it's fine..." I chuckled as I moved myself closer to reach out and gently wipe tears off of his cheeks with my jumper sleeve. 

Thomas looked up at me as I did so, making eye contact with me that caused my heart skip a beat or two. I lovingly tapped the end of his nose with one finger as I moved my hand away from his face and placed them back onto my lap. 

"I told you I'm not fucking around..." Thomas said, blinking slowly, his voice rich with lust.

I felt myself melting into him, my heart beating faster and slower than normal at the same time, a crazy feeling which is hard to explain. I began slowly leaning towards him, my chest pounding. He responded by leaning in too, until our lips finally met. 


	10. Crazy Gigi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it's been so long! i've been super busy (and unmotivated) as always i will proof read this later (like tomorrow) as right now i'm tired of writing, but yep enjoy!
> 
> OH YES AND OF COURSE- i've made a tumblr for my fics! i'm still in the process of updating it with all of my fics but i'll get there soon, it's just another place to access them! daftfanfiction.tumblr.com

I sighed as a pulled my jeans back on and fastened my belt buckle. 

"What's wrong?" Thomas questioned, before taking a long drag of the cigarette he was holding as he lay in his bed.

I turned to face him, running a rough hand through my hair as I noticed the scruffy state of his, curls sticking up in every direction. I bit my lip in thought and dropped my eyes to avoid his gaze.

I was being hit with the familiar waves of shame that hit me after every time we had sex.

I shrugged. Not wanted to admit that I was feeling regret, fearing offending Thomas.

"I don't know... I just... I don't know." I mumbled.

"It's something. You don't look happy."

"It's nothing, Thomas. Trust me-" I shrugged again. "- look I've got to leave now."

I stood up, managing to flash a fake smile at Thomas before grabbing my phone and wallet from his bedside table, stashing them in my trouser pockets. 

Thomas propped himself up onto his elbows, watching me gather the last of my belongings. He titled his head as I met his eye, taking another drag from his cigarette.

"Shame you have to leave so soon." Thomas purred, in the voice he usually used when trying to seduce me.

I cringed a little. Normally I would melt at the sound of his low, warm tone, but my current mood was causing this to simply add to how pathetic I was feeling.

"I'm sorry... things to do, people to s-" 

"- stop." Thomas cut my lie short as I rushed out of his room. 

I turned, already nearly out of his bedroom door, to face him. 

He pat his right cheek with a single finger, signalling for me to kiss it. I walked over to him and bent down, gently planting a kiss. 

I stood back up again, raising my eyebrows as a sign of waiting for his approval to leave. 

"Good boy." He praised, before giving a gentle smack to my thigh.

 I paused for a second, trying to think of something to say but not being able to. It wasn't because I wanted to make a comment, but because I felt that I  _had_  to. I wasn't quite sure why I felt this way, so put it down to wanting to appear less awkward. I gave up and scuttled out of his room.

I spent the entire walk back to my own apartment musing over my current situation. Well, by that, I meant Thomas. He was all I really had going on in my life, at all. This was actually kind of embarrassing and annoying, as he obviously had a lot more going on than I did. I constantly tried my best to make him think I had other things to do than sit around waiting to spend time with him by telling little lies, like excusing myself from his apartment 'because I had to meet a friend'. I didn't. Ever. I was doing nothing with my life apart from either being with Thomas, or waiting in anxious anticipation until the next time I could see him. The only word for my situation was sad. Utterly sad.

Thomas and Dianne were about as official as couples get by now. Which still made me feel a bit nauseous. Obviously I was jealous of her because she got to be Thomas's number one or whatever, I was just his 'bit on the side', for lack of a better term. But I also felt sorry for her. She had no idea I was fucking her boyfriend behind her back. The feeling of guilt that constantly plagued my brain was killing me, yet I just couldn't get enough of him. 

I swallowed hard as I crossed a road, forgetting to even check for cars and still not taking any notice to my surroundings even once I heard the piercing sound of a car horn behind me.

 _Nine times..._  I thought to myself. Nine times. We had fucked nine times now. I felt worse and worse after each time. But then craved to do it again even more after loneliness kicked back in. It normally took about a day to go from being too embarrassed to ever see Thomas ever again to practically drooling at the thought of being able to touch him again. Like I said, sad.

As soon as I reached my apartment I made my way directly to my bed and flopped onto it, curling up into a ball despite still having my shoes on. I just wanted to sleep. I couldn't have rational thoughts about Thomas when I slept, only dreams. Which I much preferred. 

However, around two hours later, I was still wide awake. Two hours is a long time when your brain is putting you though uncontrollable emotional turmoil, and I must have been through pretty much every emotion under the sun by now.

My current though was that I hated Thomas because this was all his fault. Sure, I was a pretty shitty person for sleeping with a person I full well knew was in a relationship, but Thomas was being a lot worse than me. He was the one cheating, I wasn't cheating on anyone. 

I later decided that I needed to actual get out of bed and do something with myself for once. Not right that second, obviously. But during the following day. I set the alarm on my phone to 9:00 am and then snuggled into my bed sheets, managing to quickly fall asleep.

My productive day consisted of handing a copy of my CV into pretty much every place that had potential for me being employed in. Mostly cafes and shops, with the exception of one super market in particular. My CV was fairly impressive, considering I'd only had a single part time job in my life (which lasted for approximately 4 months before I was caught sneaking off for a cheeky cigarette one too many times), but I wasn't expecting a call as soon as I did. I was still handing copies of the sheet out when my phone rang, with a number I didn't recognise. 

"Hello?" I said gingerly, fairly sure of the reason for the call but still doubting myself.

"Hello! Is that Guy-Manuel?" A high-pitched female voice almost sang down the phone to me.

"Yep, it is."

"Great! Thanks for handing in your CV today, I've had a quick look at it and am pleased to say I'd love to invite you in for an interview!"

"Oh great! Thanks, um...-" I started to panic a little, the woman hadn't specified where the job actually was. It could have been any of the places I'd already visited.  _Oh shit... it's been like twenty different places..._  I thought to myself, forgetting to finish my sentence. 

"- at Gigi's! The cafe..." The woman finished my train of though for me.

I internally thanked her greatly and we then arranged a time for my interview, midday the next day. I remembered the place now she had given me the name, a small coffee shop next to a pharmacy. It appeared to be family run or something, it was little and slightly quirky, with odd paintings hanging all over the walls and abundant plastic flowers on each of the tables. 

The interview was short and sweet, the woman from the phone call, she introduced herself as 'crazy Gigi but you can just call me crazy. Or Gigi!' and pretty much just explained that she wanted to give me the job but just wanted to go through the formalities with me, a short introduction to coffee making and as such. The job was more thrust upon me than anything else, but I couldn't complain.

The cafe wasn't too busy as I was there, just a few people sitting around reading newspapers and sipping on whatever for what seemed like hours. Gigi spent a while going through basic procedures like fire drills and then she spent a while teaching me how to use all of the machines. It was pretty easy really, just pushing a few buttons every now and then. As crazy Gigi was thanking me and jotting down my first couple of shift times onto a napkin, a male emerged from the kitchen area, where they made up sandwiches and kept cakes and other such snacks in a giant fridge. 

"Ah! There he is!" Gigi chirped, flashing a huge grin at the male.

He grunted in response, then turned to me and gave me a slight nod. I nodded back before he grabbed a cleaning cloth and ambled onto the cafe floor to wipe clean the tables.

"That's my little brother, Leon! Well I say little, he's 26! And a giant! Look at him!" She began laughing hysterically. 

"Ha, yeah..." I mumbled, still watching Leon.

"But yeah, he works here too. He's my only relative you'll be working with though, don't you worry about that! This isn't come crazy family...uh.. gathering... thing!" 

"Uh yeah...sure..." 

She grinned at me, a big, beaming smile. I gave a small smile back before she slipped the napkin with a weeks worth of shift hours on across the counter to me.

"See you then!"

"See you, thanks a lot!" I called as she turned and walked into the kitchen.

I pushed myself off of the bar stool-like chair I was currently seated on and turned to leave the cafe. As I was walking towards the door, Leon looked up. I caught his eye as I walked past him, only a few feet away from the table he was currently wiping. He straightened up and reached out his hand to me, causing me to stop dead in my tracks and nervously reach out my own hand to him. I was feeling a bit on edge the whole time, as I always felt nervous with new situations like this. 

"Congratulations." He offered, his voice low and deep.

He spoke slowly, and the way the word dripped off of his tongue much reminded me of the way Thomas purred when he spoke.

"I, uh... thanks." I said quietly before quickly letting go of Leon's hand. 

I gave him a small smile as I stepped backwards slightly, readying myself to leave. 

Right then, and extremely unarguably, Leon gave me a sly wink, before turning his back and carrying on his work.


	11. Dirty Secret

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW ok it has been a LONG LONG time since i wrote for this fic!! I'd pretty much abandoned it as I felt like I couldn't get it going in the direction I had pictured in my head, but I re-read it last night and realised that I do actually like what I have got down so far and sooo here we go!! so sorry about how long it has been, and double sorry if it takes a while to get back in the swing of writing (hopefully it won't!) but anyway.... enjoy! ps not proof read so if you find a mistake and want to tell me that would be awesomeee thankuu

I started working at Gigi's Cafe only two days after she had given me the job, and my first shift was rather boring and uneventful. It wasn't busy at all, apart from a slight rush around lunchtime, and I often found myself with nothing to do. Gigi herself was small and slightly hunchbacked. Her hair was salt-and-peppered with a mix of black and grey and was of rather astonishing length, with the tip of her ponytail reaching far past her hips. She wore circular-framed glasses and bright blue eye shadow, something which had the ability to shock if a person wasn't used to its striking appearance. Her clothes were brightly-coloured and had a mismatched look to them, with a wide range of material with clashing colours and patterns covering her body at once. It was hard to age her, but I set my guess at late 50's. She spent most of my first day pottering around the kitchen, not seeming to be achieving anything in particular but keeping busy nonetheless. 

When Gigi wasn't idly stacking mugs or chatting with customers, she was fussing around me. 

"Ohhh... I love your hair Guy-Man! It's so...-" Gigi cooed adoringly, pausing to reach up and stroke a strand of my hair "-luxurious!" 

I chuckled a little. "Thank you, Gigi. So is yours!"

She blushed a little, turning to hide her rosy cheeks. "Oh...you..." She let out a tiny giggle and padded away, running her fingers through the end of her ponytail as she walked.

I heard a laugh behind me as I stood by the coffee machine counter. I turned around as Esther appeared at the door leading into the kitchen. She leaned against the frame and grinned at me.

"She definitely has a crush on you. You're just her type." Esther joked.

I flipped one side of my hair in a comedic manor and pouted. "What can I say? I'm obviously a catch!"

Esther giggled again, before turning back into the kitchen to resume washing up mugs.

Esther was the only other person working at the cafe that day, alongside Gigi and myself. She was only 17 years old and  was strikingly beautiful. She had told me that her mother is French but her father is from the Caribbean, and this showed in her skin tone and delicately freckled face. She wore her dark brown hair in two little buns, with a hair bands featuring a decorative sunflower charm around each bun. Everything about Esther oozed innocence and exquisite delicacy, from her adorable button nose to her gentle and almost mouse-like voice and giggles.

My shift that day ended before Esther's, and Gigi apparently stayed around all the way from opening time to closing time, so I waved goodbye as I left.

* * *

 

I awoke to the sound of my phone alarm buzzing.  _Ugh... why on earth did I want a job..._  I thought to myself as I silenced the alarm and put my phone into my pocket. I then reluctantly dragged myself from my warm bed and into the kitchen to prepare something for breakfast. 

After half-throwing myself onto the sofa and resting a bowl of cereal and a cup of coffee on the arm rest, I reached for my phone to check for messages. I had one from Thomas. My heart fluttered a little when I saw his name flash on the screen.

 _'Wakey wakey sunshine! How are you this fine morning? xx'_ The message read.

 _'Grumpy. And tired. However there is work to be done, coffee to be made! Why are you awake so early, it's only 7am! Do you have work?xx'_ I typed out and sent, before returning my attention to breakfast. 

I reached into my jacket pocket to check my phone one last time before I reached work. Still no reply from Thomas. I shrugged.  _He must be at work or something..._

As I pushed against the glass door to Gigi's Cafe I noticed that there wasn't a single person in sight. 

"Hello?" I called out as I entered, craning my neck to see if I could spot anyone through the open door to the kitchen.

A familiar grinning face suddenly popped up from behind the counter, making me jump a little.

"Allo!" Gigi called, running around the counter towards me with her arms open.

"Hmph!-" I grunted as Gigi ran into me, wrapping her arms around me in a welcoming hug. I gently pat her back, smiling. "-hello! Good morning!"

Gigi pulled away from me, still grinning. She reached up and ruffled my already messy hair and gently tapped the end of my nose. 

"I'll just put my jacket away Gigi then I'll be out!" I called to her as she scurried off to serve a customer who has just entered.

I made my way through the kitchen towards the back of the cafe, and to a small room which was referred to as the 'office'. It was basically just a room with a computer and several chairs and tables piled high with clutter where staff took breaks and Gigi did administration. As soon as I swung the wooden door to the office open I noticed that Leon, the boy I had met the day I got the job and who was apparently Gigi's little brother, was sat perched on a table, legs swinging off the side and looking at his phone. He looked up sharply as he heard me enter, and offered me a half-smile. 

"Good morning" I offered gingerly as I shrugged off my jacket.

Leon looked up again from his phone and gave me a nod.   _Not a man of many words then..._

I looked back at him, getting my first chance to properly survey his appearance as he was too fixated on whatever he was doing on his phone to notice me staring. He had dark hair, much like my own, but his was shorter. His face was very masculine, with thick eyebrows and a lot of stubble. His bone structure also added to his extremely masculine look, and features such as his prominent jawline made him distinctly...attractive. He was the sort of man who looked rugged, but in the way in which a male model may be scouted for. His body was well-built, and this was made very clear by his black, tight-fitting polo shirt, the same shirt given to me to wear as work uniform. His biceps were on show due to the shirt being short-sleeved, and he was obviously fond of them himself as it was easy to tell he worked hard on getting them so toned. It was difficult not to feel slightly self-concious when standing near such a man.

As I was still sorting my belongings out and preparing to get to work, Leon pushed himself from the desk and began carefully stepping over the boxes strewn across the floor on his way out of the office. He paused as he reached me, standing close to the door. We made eye contact, and I raised an eyebrow in suspicion of what his next move would be. It was extremely difficult to read him. Leon's mouth parted into a slight, sly-looking smile, and he winked before leaving the room.  _Again, he winked at me again._  This was the second time, the first being when I first met him.

My mind raced as I made my way from the office back into the kitchen.  _Did that mean anything? Why does he keep winking at me? Does he fancy me? Do I fancy him?_ Nothing seemed to make sense as I went through the multitude of questions I was asking myself yet failing to understand. I tried to shake off these thoughts as I began making my way through a small pile of dirty mugs and saucers.

Despite my efforts, Leon was occupying my thoughts an hour later as I wiped down the tables. To be fair to myself, it is pretty difficult to not think about someone when you're working right beside them. Gigi was the one primarily serving customers today, with me attempting to help a few times. I was still getting into the swing of things however, so she was always there to help me make coffee or work the till. I hadn't seen Leon serve any customers as of yet, and he spent most of his time out the back or in the kitchen quietly working away at something or another.

I had asked Gigi whether there was ever more people than three people working at once. She explained that during the summer there was, sometimes up to six people in at once. But for now, it was rather quiet, so three did the job. I had also questioned her about precisely  _why_ a coffee shop in the middle of Paris experienced as many quiet periods throughout the day as hers did, being careful not to offend her. Gigi answered by saying it was due to the rise of global chain coffee shops opening up all over the place. All the customers went there now. She spent a while reminiscing about when her parents had owned the shop when she was young herself, and how busy it would get, no matter what time of year it was. It was fairly sad to see Gigi's face as she was picturing what used to be, but she still understandably had a strong love for the place and its customers.

* * *

 

My walk home from work after that shift felt a lot longer and more tedious. My mood had dramatically decreased since the day before, and the gloomy weather reflected that. I tried to tell myself that I was just simply in a bad mood, and that my low feeling was not caused by the fact that Thomas was yet to reply to my text that I had sent him hours and hours ago. I was trying to kid myself, but it wasn't working.

The familiar feel of entering my apartment alone was never a very welcomed one. In fact, I hated the feeling. I hated the feeling of being in my apartment alone (and by alone I meant, of course, without Thomas) and today felt especially lonely as I wasn't even communicating with him via text, something which we did quite a lot. I quickly scanned my apartment, trying to decide what activity to busy myself with. Upon realising there was nothing I felt motivated enough to do, I let out a sigh and retired to my bed, flopping down on it with my shoes and jacket still on. I put a cigarette to my lips and lit it, and lay there just enjoying it for a while.

I hated being alone with my thoughts, and unfortunately this was something that happened a lot. My mind constantly swapped between thinking about Thomas and thinking about Leon. After an hour or so I was able to come up with two conclusions;

Firstly- I fancy Leon. A lot.

And secondly, -I am extremely and painfully jealous of Dianne.

I sighed. Well, actually, maybe I had three conclusions. The final one was the most painful and upsetting of all. I was Thomas' dirty secret. His naughty bit on the side.


End file.
